She Was Coaching Founders on Procrastination. Then Built the App They All Needed.

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The internet doesn’t need more thinkpieces. It needs proof.

That’s why It Exists exists.

Every week, we spotlight someone who didn’t just have an idea but they built it.
No permission. No perfect timing. Just momentum.

Some started with a spark like the ones inside NTE Pro, our library of 4,500+ startup ideas.
Some could’ve gone faster with NTE Zero to One, our hands-on help turning ideas into MVPs.
But all of them did one thing that matters: they started.

Now it exists.
And you could be next.

Let’s get into it.

Su isn’t new to building.

She spent a decade as a product manager. Co-founded an AI startup. Then pivoted, not away from tech, but deeper into people.

She trained in Internal Family Systems and somatic therapy. She started coaching founders and creatives, the ones who “should have it all figured out,” but found themselves stuck in cycles of avoidance, shame, and overwhelm.

They weren’t lazy. They weren’t broken.

They were protecting themselves.
From perfectionism. From failure. From not knowing where to begin.

And Su could see it, again and again.

Then one day, the same stuckness hit her. That same spiral. That same feeling.
And something inside her shifted.

“I don’t want to just talk about this. I want to build something for it.”

She didn’t know if it would work. But she knew what it needed to feel like.

So she opened up Bolt. And Flowbound was born.

It’s not a timer. Not a productivity hack. Not a dopamine blocker.

It’s a self-guided emotional toolkit disguised as a magical forest.

You open the app, choose the creature that represents what you’re feeling, shame, overwhelm, perfectionism, boredom and Flowbound offers you something small but powerful: a mental reframe, a tiny exercise, a moment of curiosity.

Because procrastination isn’t the problem.
It’s the signal.

Flowbound doesn’t push you to do more.
It helps you understand what’s holding you back and gently move through it.

This wasn’t just another side project.

It was a bridge between tech and therapy.
Between product design and inner work.
Between stuck… and softly unstuck.

Lesson 1: Don’t Build for “Productivity.” Build for the Moment We Actually Get Stuck.

Most focus apps chase discipline. Flowbound chases compassion.

Instead of timers or dopamine blockers, it starts with a question:

“What is your procrastination protecting you from?”

Because procrastination isn’t the problem,  it’s a signal. A protector. A part of your nervous system doing its best to keep you safe.

Su had seen this again and again in coaching. But she’d also lived it.

So she mapped the emotional roots, shame, perfectionism, confusion, overwhelm and turned each one into a creature in a magical forest.

Tap on the one that matches what you’re feeling, and Flowbound gives you an experiment. A tool. A reflection. A mini ritual that helps you move forward with curiosity instead of self-criticism.

It’s a beautiful trick of design and psychology:
Create emotional distance through metaphor, so people can explore safely.

Flowbound doesn’t try to fix you.

 It helps you talk to the parts of you that don’t want to move yet.

Lesson 2: Start With Vibes. Then Get Ruthlessly Specific.

Su calls herself a “vibe coder”, which, in her words, means organized chaos.

She didn’t start with code. She started with scraps of paper. Scribbled user flows. Mapped emotions. Imagined what it would feel like to be stuck, and what would actually help in that moment.

Then, she wrote an insanely detailed PRD with ChatGPT-4 o3 acting like her product therapist.

“It’s easier to edit a PRD than to rewrite broken code.”

She built the first prototype in Bolt. Used Supabase to store her library of 50+ emotional exercises. Added auth, logic, and more interaction with Cursor once things got complex.

Two weekends later - it worked.

Flowbound wasn’t perfect. But it was real.
And most importantly, it felt right.

The total build cost? Around $20.

The total hours? Two weekends and a decade of emotional insight.

Lesson 3: Use the Tool to Build the Tool

Here’s the kicker: Su was procrastinating while building an anti-procrastination app.

When you're building for an emotional state you've actually lived through, the product hits differently. You’re not guessing. You’re translating.

“I’d start spiraling into ‘is this even useful?’… then use one of the exercises, and suddenly I was back in it.”

She even tested the games in real time, noticing which ones helped her shift state, which ones felt too clinical, and which ones made her laugh enough to keep going.

This recursive building loop made the product deeply human, not just smart.

And it worked. Not just for her.

After dropping a link casually into Twitter, Lenny Rachitsky featured Flowbound in his newsletter.
Traffic spiked. Over 3,000 people visited. Hundreds played with it.

She started getting messages from strangers.

“Some people use it like an emotional reset button. Others use it for focus sessions. It’s doing things I didn’t expect.”

That’s when she knew: this wasn’t just a personal project.

It had pull.

Lesson 4: Emotional UX > Feature Creep

You won’t find a dark mode toggle. Or a productivity graph. Or a “grind harder” leaderboard.

You will find creatures. Stories. Prompts that ask questions like:

• What’s the worst-case scenario you're avoiding?

• What would this look like if it were fun?

• What part of you is trying to help by stopping?
  

You’ll also find experiments like:

• Try standing on one leg for 10 seconds.

• Try writing a haiku about your task.

• Try changing your scenery. Or music. Or posture.

They may seem playful, but each one is designed to gently shift your emotional state just enough to get you moving.

And behind it all, Su’s real design goal:

“I wanted people to feel safe enough to explore their procrastination with curiosity.”

There’s a reason the app feels like a forest instead of a dashboard.
The fantasy layer creates space.
Enough distance for a person to face a difficult emotion without flinching.

That’s not aesthetic.

That’s trauma-aware UX.

Lesson 5: Accountability Isn’t Optional. It’s Infrastructure.

Flowbound almost stalled at 80%.

Su hadn’t shared it publicly. She was tweaking things in isolation. Fixing bugs that no one else had seen yet.

Then came Vibe Combinator, a community she co-organized for indie builders and “vibe coders.” They hosted a demo day.

That deadline and that group gave her the push.

“I would’ve probably dropped it at 50% if it weren’t for them.”

Accountability isn’t just helpful.

It’s how ideas survive their most fragile stage.

What She’s Building Next

Su’s still improving Flowbound adding more creatures, layering in focus experiments, and balancing emotional depth with playfulness.

She’s also exploring personalized hypnosis tools using ElevenLabs the idea being:

“Why not generate your own guided script, like installing software directly into your nervous system?”

This is her playground now at the intersection of tech, healing, and weird magic.

And when asked what else she hopes someone builds?

She’s got a list:

• Airbnb for quiet spaces: places to take a call or write in peace, without needing a coworking membership.
  

• Smart lockers around cities: drop your stuff, roam freely.

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What You Can Learn From Su

🌀 Build for the emotional moment, not the abstract problem.
Most tools solve productivity. Flowbound solves stuckness.

🧪 Start as a vibe coder. End as a product lead.
Explore playfully, then get structured as hell. PRDs are your friend.

🌲 Fantasy isn’t fluff. It’s a UX superpower.
Design metaphor can create the distance needed for real reflection.

🔁 Use the tool to finish the tool.
Your emotional state is part of the build stack. Treat it as such.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Accountability beats motivation.
A demo day can save your project. So can a small group that gives a damn.

Try Flowbound or Connect with Su
🧘‍♀️ flowbound.app — Try the app
💬 myinneroasis.com — Coaching
🌱 vibecombinator.co — Join the community
🐦 @su_dreams or [email protected] — Say hi

If you’ve got an idea stuck in your head…
Or a distraction loop that keeps winning…

This is your reminder:
The resistance you feel might be trying to protect you.
But clarity lives on the other side of action.

Start small.
Start messy.
Start now.

Need a spark? NTE Pro has 4,500+ ideas waiting to be built.
Need help starting it? That’s what NTE Zero to One is for.

Your idea doesn’t need to be perfect.
It just needs to exist.

Let’s go.

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